


not your heros

by siojo



Series: Equestrian AU [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Relationships, Best Friends, Gen, Horseback Riding, Social Media
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 19:23:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16838851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: In which Coby and Helmeppo are both normal teenagers, who are very much fans of their instructor and his cousin and also very serious horse riders. (Even if they spend more time fighting other fans and removing comments about pairings from their pictures).





	not your heros

**Author's Note:**

> I will mention there is some RPF bashing, because it's from the perspective of two people who have spent lots of time with these people and don't want to read about it. It also influences their view of other RPFs.

“There’s small children in the hallway,” Coby whispers as he waits for Helmeppo to finish changing. “Two of them. I don’t remember seeing them around but they’re over by the posters and whispering.”

“They’re probably trying to figure out the pokemon,” Helmeppo answers, pushing his hair back from his face and fumbling it into a bun with a frown. “This is a mess. Stop focusing on the kids and help me?”

Coby rolls his eyes, “You could have just left your hair up. You know that you suck at this.”

“And you could come help me fix this or do you want to be late? I hear that Luffy’s actually here to teach us today and I know you don’t want to be late to one of his lessons. Please.”

“You mean you’ve actually remembered that word?” Coby taunts, moving to help him. “Instead of just ordering people around to do what you want them to?”

Helmeppo frowns at him, “Shut up.”

“I mean, you did try to order everyone around at first,” Coby mutters, pulling Helmeppo’s hair back into a bun quickly and tying it up. “There, come on, we’re running late!”

“You were the one that took his time,” Helmeppo states following out the changing rooms after him. “And you took thirty minutes and made us miss a bus because you were uploading pictures of the posters that were made for the costume event.”

Coby scowls, “Ace and Luffy dressed their horses up as recognizable Pokemon while also making sure that they weren’t going to hurt or bother them. I’m so sorry that I wanted to make sure the pictures were perfect.”

“You and instagram.”

“Shut up-”

“Children,” Helmeppo mutters shoulder twitching towards where there’s two kids, tiny enough to probably be in one of the early level classes, bouncing as they try to get a good look at the posters. “Tiny, tiny children.”

“You were that small,” Coby mutters, smirking when Helmeppo elbows him in the stomach. “You’re going to break me.”

Helmeppo laughs, “Then maybe I can steal our teacher too-”

“I’m pretty sure that theft is illegal,” Ace says suddenly from behind them, startling them both. “And I’m pretty sure that Luffy’s been texting me for the last five minutes worried that you two forgot that he was going to be here today.”

“No!” Coby says quickly, spinning around to face him and stepping back in a rush. “No, we’re just running a little late! Missed a bus?”

Ace laughs, “I’m sure. Might want to hurry up and go meet up with Luffy before he starts trying to track you down or comes crying to me about it. You wouldn’t want him to start crying because he thought you didn’t want to train with him anymore, do you?”

“We’re going!”

Helmeppo’s faster than Coby still, his legs are longer and he cheats, which is why he’s almost to the door when Coby hears Ace join the two kids and the start of their excited questions, including one that makes him move faster as his face burns.

“You okay?”

“They asked if we were the kids on the poster, you know the ones that aren’t about the senior teams,” Coby mutters, putting his hands to his face. “We have to burn the poster down.”

Helmeppo shakes his head, “We can’t burn the poster down, you know they have copies.”

“They don’t,” he glances at Helmeppo and sighs, “Of course they do. Why wouldn’t they have copies. I hate it.”

“I know. Now come on, we have to get our horses and Luffy is probably still texting Ace dispondantly.”

Coby rolls his eyes, following after him to the stables and wincing when the snow, more slush than anything, splashes everywhere, leaving mud on his breeches. There hadn’t been enough snow yet for anything else, but it was still too cold for the horses to be allowed out on their own the way that they normally would.

“Who are you going to ride today?” Helmeppo asks, shivering as they enter the stables, pausing to try and knock the slush from his boots.

“I haven’t decided,” Coby answers rubbing his hands together. “We’ll have to see how they are. What if Garpie is not up for it or Helio is tired?”

“You and I both know that you have a schedule that you follow and already know which horse you’re going to use unless one of them isn’t able to ride and you know it.”

Coby frowns, “You have two horses too, don’t start on me.”

“Go get your horse and we’ll get ready and go. Luffy’s gonna come hunt us down if we take too long and you know he’ll ask why we took so long and you’ll be unable to lie and you’ll tell him all about your weird need to get the pictures perfect.”

“You spent twenty minutes of that arguing with someone about how they were wrong about Ace and Wanda dating.”

“And I’m right,” Helmeppo hisses. “I asked Wanda and she laughed herself sick before saying no, because Ace was the last person that she would ever date.”

Coby shakes his head, “Tell me later, we need to go!”

The groom already has their horses waiting for them, closest to the exit for the covered arena that Luffy had texted them to meet him in.

“You came!” Luffy shouts waving excitedly when he spots them. “You came! I thought you weren’t coming!”

“We missed the bus,” Helmeppo states before Coby can tell him something he shouldn’t. “Sorry, Luffy.”

Luffy bounces, “That’s fine! We have work to do, I hope that you’re ready!”

* * *

**Coby Shells MF Jumping Rider** ☑️ @CobyMFRider

The posters from the New Years MFE Costume Festival at Kensington Palace Park last weekend came in!

14/01/2017 08:40

**Aakldjf** @ridergurlfan • 10h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

Omg, are those horses all dressed up as Pokemon???? Look at those Sawsbuck! @motherheckhorse look!!!

**Helmeppo Ironjaw MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @HelmeppoMFRider • 9h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

This year’s theme was Pokemon. We had a lot of them. Including a whole team of cart horses dressed up as Arceus and another team as Mudsdales

**Nailing It** @Nailingit • 8h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

Is that @AceMFRider on a Xerneas?

**MF Rider stands for** @MotherFuckRider • 7h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

I love how many of them are Sawsbucks? Just look at them all? They’ve got a herd!

**Horse Mom** @motherheckhorse • 7h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

Wait, who is who? I think #Sonicthehorse might be the Xerneas, but who are the rest?

**Coby Shells MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @CobyMFRider • 7h

Xenaes is #flowerofmyheart because Wisteria is best horse. #Sonicthehorse is the blitzle. We all know that St. Elmo hates things too close to his face. Entei is #RavenHorse, not that you can see Cor well 1/?

**Coby Shells MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @CobyMFRider • 7h

#Lorocothelazy is Rapidash, Loroco is so calm about that horn too. #Messangerofthesea is Ponyta, because you might as well have both and Hermes makes a great one. 2/?

**Coby Shells MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @CobyMFRider • 7h

#Phillytheharemare #HorseofSpades #Titanhorse are all Sawbucks in either spring or winter. #Rubysway is a fall Deerling! (aka Philly, Spade, Atlas are Sawbucks and Ruby is a Deerling.) 3/3

**Chef Pudding Charlotte** @PuddingPastry • 7h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

That’s so cute!

**N1 Carrot Musketeers Fan** @RabbitHorse • 6h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

What do @WandaMFRider and @CarrotMFRider have and are they?

**Wanda Musketeers MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @WandaMFRider • 4h

Carrot’s a lopunny and Electro is Houndoom because there’s not a lot of horse pokemon that we can use. And I’m a Delphox and Wany is Houndour!

**N1 Carrot Musketeers Fan** @RabbitHorse • 4h

Thank you @WandaMFRider. We are in your debt!

**Andrew Goldenweek** @BestRiderLuffy • 6h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

Luffy looks so cute and look at his horses????!!!!

**Hats on horses an riders** @tophatfan • 3h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

Sabo is wearing a top hat and I’m living???

**Sabo Outlook MF Dressage Rider ☑️** @SaboMFRider • 2h

Replying to @CobyMFRider

@CobyMFRider, I didn’t know these were done! Or did you get test ones again?

**Coby Shells MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @CobyMFRider • 1h

@SaboMFRider Test ones! They look nice, don’t they?

**Sabo Outlook MF Dressage Rider ☑️** @SaboMFRider • 1h

They do! I love how #NotaLadyLiberty and #Playfulmare look! @AceMFRider talked me into the Zebratik and Taurus respectfully. #Victoriousmare , #LadyBrave , and #DemosNotDemon are Ponyta and Sawsbucks. (Thanks for putting them in different pictures!)

**Ace Gol MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @AceMFRider • 50m

You were the one that thought he could get away without dressing up. Don’t you dare think that I won’t dress your horses up for you. Join in the fun!

**Sabo Outlook MF Dressage Rider ☑️** @SaboMFRider • 30m

[image] flashback to when @AceMFRider and I were dorky kids and dressed our horses up as pokemon for the first time. Look at Lis as Ponyta and Jaskell as Taurus.

**Ace Gol MF Jumping Rider ☑️** @AceMFRider • 28m

You still have that, send me!! Mine got lost before you moved in!

**Ballet Danseur Bentham** @BalletBentham • 5m

And people think saboace isn’t real <3<3

Coby wrinkles his nose as he closes out of twitter, “People need to keep their weird pairing shit off my twitter.”

“Someone commented on the pic?” Helmeppo asks, not bothering to look up from his homework. “Who was it this time? Nami and Luffy bullshit or Ace and Wanda?”

“Sabo and Ace,” Coby answers, collapsing on his bed. “He’s been publically with Koala for almost two years now, but she’s not really his girlfriend!”

Helmeppo hums, “The joys of having minor celebrity status. Just wait until we’re older and have to deal with that. There’s a reason that Luffy had one of the people at the school talk with your parents when they agreed to let you start the Children’s competitions. My mom already knew about all that.”

“Just imagine how Ace and Sabo feel. I mean, Ace has publicly stated on numerous occasions that he’s not dating anyone, but people just keep saying things.”

“We can’t really change that. I mean we barely got people to stop asking us for information about their ‘otp’,” he frowns. “I know we’re fans of things, but remind me periodically that this is why we stick to cartoons, books, and videogames.”

Coby sighs, “I can’t, I’m still living in a horror realm where there’s RPF fiction of us and I don’t know about it. It’s something that fills me with a deep and unending fear. I don’t know if I would prefer to know about it or if i’m just horrified.”

“You don’t. Wanna read it, I mean. Ace told me about some he had the misfortune of finding for himself once and now he can’t ever get the thing out of his head,” Helmeppo frowns at his homework. “And if Ace thinks it’s terrifying? I’m gonna believe him.”

“He is the most stubborn person we know,” he pauses. “Do you think Luffy’s run into it?”

Helmeppo chokes, “If you ask him, I will no longer talk to you. You remember that hole we found when it turned out that they shipped the actors in that show. I can’t live with that!”

“Fine, fine,” Coby laughs, flipping onto his stomach and looking at the homework he had been ignoring. “I don’t want to do this.”

“If your grades fall, your parents won’t let you keep riding.”

“Can’t I pick fights with the people trying to ship Carrot and Luffy? Carrot’s face was horrible when you asked her if they were dating. And Wanda looked ready to hit you until you said it was because the internet was being weird.”

“No, come on, homework.”

Coby groans, trying to focus on his maths, “I feel stupid when it’s not horses.”

Helmeppo groans back at him, “Come on, I want to have tomorrow for relaxing and fighting people online. We won’t have that if we don’t do our homework now. It’s not that hard and we have time. It’s gonna take twenty minutes.”

“If I finish maths can I fight the person going on all my pictures of Nami and Luffy insisting they’re a cute couple?”

“You pick anymore fights and I think Vivi might ask you to stop.”

“Vivi would not. She’s been upset about people claiming that Nami’s cheating on her with Luffy forever now. It’s not fair to let people say shit like that.”

Helmeppo sighs heavily, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. Coby will probably feel sorry for doing this to his friend later, when he’s no longer bored out of his mind and trying to fight the entirety of a fandom that he hadn’t even known existed until he had started competing internationally because his parents were very big about safe search.

“I regret making you my best friend, is this how Ace feels when Sabo betrays him?”

“When you betray your boy.”

Helmeppo frowns at him, “I’m about to steal your phone and make you do your homework. Don’t think that I won’t. You absolute asshole.”

“Oh, I’m telling on you. Helmeppo is cursing!” Coby singsongs as he types out a new tweet, accompanied by a picture of Helmeppo upset and glaring at him. “I have betrayed my boy.”

“I’m throwing you out the window,” Helmeppo says surging up without looking at his phone. The ping of a notification following him. “This is what siblings are like and I didn’t fucking sign up for that. I’m not Ace.”

Coby laughs, rolling off his bed, “I’m not remotely sorry, leave me alone!”

They don’t get the chance to fight, Coby’s mom opening the door and raising her eyebrow as she looks at the both of them, “I thought you boys were doing homework?”

“We,” Coby and Helmeppo exchange glances, “We took a break?”

“Mhm, phones please boys. You’ll get them back when you finish your work. And Coby, instead of fighting the people coming onto your pictures and tweets, you can just block them instead. Luffy said that was the best way to deal with it,” she tucks both phones into her pockets. “I’ll be in the living room when you’re done.”

Helmeppo scowls at Coby the moment the door closes, “And now you’ve done it. She’ll check it’s done before we get our phones back. All because you were bored.”

“I’ll make it up to you?” Coby offers, not sure what he’ll do. “I’m sure that I can get you something good?”

“Unless you can convince Nami to help me get Vivi’s autograph, I’m not interested.”

“Do, do you not have it?” Coby asks slowly. “Vivi’s signed like six things for me, here.” He reaches into his side table, flipping through several pieces of paper to pull out one. “Forgive me.”

“The fact that you’re Nami’s favorite has never been more obvious than this moment.”

Coby shrugs, “I don’t know what you want from me, Helmeppo. I’m using my power to get the signature of a movie star and I refuse to give it up. Now you have to forgive me, because I have done what you have asked of me.”

“I should never have talked to you when we started classes, I would have a happier life.”

“You would be bored without me! Bored and alone and sad!”

Helmeppo collapses back on the ground with a sigh, “I could easily replace you with another horse. Now hurry up, I want my phone back.”

* * *

“If this Nailing comes on one more of my posts and gets into a fight with that Ballet Dude about Ace’s romantic prospects, I’m seriously considering blocking them both. Even if Ace seems to encourage Ballet Dude’s bullshit to a point,” Coby states frowning at his phone. “I mean, Nailing is creepy.”

Helmeppo snorts, “Creepy?”

“You don’t go into your comments much, do you?” Coby already know the answer to that and doesn’t bother to wait for him to respond. “She met Ace once, from what I can tell, at a dinner function or something, I don’t really care, honestly. She thinks they’re destined to be together.”

“And Ballet Dude?”

“He’s always willing to throw down. He’s very insistent that everyone is gay and Sabo absolutely hates him.”

“Hates him?” Helmeppo raises an eyebrow. “Sabo?”

Coby nods, “Ballet Dude keeps insisting that Sabo is using Koala as a beard. But he’s also a big proponent of Vivi and Nami and will help me fight Luffy and Nami shippers, so I guess as long as you’re not straight? Oh,” he grins. “He also fought someone who tried to ask me if we were dating, because, and I quote, they are fucking children you damn creeps!”

“I’m not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, I am very glad he’s willing to fight people for you and on the other, I’m a little uncomfortable that he insists on everyone being gay,” Helmeppo frowns. “Is that Sabo?”

Coby pauses, pulling his glasses down from the top of his head when the blur in the distance didn’t change, “I think it is. He look panicked?”

“Oh yes.”

Sabo does look panicked, not like there’s something going on currently, but more like something had happened and it was either being resolved or would be. His sloppily done ponytail, his hair barely long enough for it, looked like he had been tugging on it for ages. Which was strange, usually if something went down, he and Helmeppo would have heard about it by now.

“Sabo?”

Sabo blinks up at them, a clipboard balanced awkwardly on his knees, “Oh, Coby and Helmeppo, right?”

Coby nods, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, but thank you for asking. Just,” he sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face. “I’m helping Ace out with some paperwork, he fell off Spadille earlier and the doctor has him on rest until the last day of the event. He asked me to bring him what he needed to withdraw.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Helmeppo asks quickly.

“He’ll be fine, Dr. Newgate said that it was just bruising but it was safer to have him rest instead of being hurt more. I’m pretty sure that Ace is just glad it’s a MFEC internal event and not one of the more important ones.”

“Isn’t this going to be his students’ first event?”

Sabo nods, tugging his hair again, “He can’t be their trainer, but he’s already arranging to be there to walk through the course with them and to do as much as he can. He didn’t tell me who he’s asking to take his place for this. Last I heard he was apologizing to Tama for not being able to do it himself.”

“He’s got two?”

“Momo is in lessons for something else, according to Ace. Which means he can use this time to talk to Tama and explain what’s going to happen instead,” Sabo sighs. “He really wanted to be there for them too. I mean he’s still attending, but there’s a lot he won’t be able to do now.”

Helmeppo shifts forward slightly, “Why did he fall?”

“Ace said that Spadille was startled by a shadow. I think?” Sabo frowns tapping his pen against the paperwork as he narrows his eyes in thought. “I- Oh! There was a shadow partially over the obstacle, according to Ace.”

“Oh, depth perception,” Helmeppo nods in understanding. “He’ll be okay, Ace?”

“He’s fine. He tried to convince us that he didn’t need to go to the hospital and his doctor assures me that he’s just bruised. Which is nice, I was worried. But he’ll be up and running by his next big event.”

Coby bites his lip, because Sabo’s worry is overreacting at it’s finest. Enough so that Helmeppo has to ask twice to get more than basics about how Ace is. He’s seen, and heard of, Ace, and Luffy, getting rushed to the medical tent from everything from accidental foot stomps to the time that Ace broke three of his fingers in a fall. “I’m glad that it’s not terribly dangerous.”

“We all are. What are you two up to? Shouldn’t you both be,” Sabo pauses, pulling out his phone to check something. “In school? It’s a weekday and before school lets out. Luffy would be upset to know you’re both skipping.”

“Half-term spring break,” Helmeppo answers for the both of them. “No school this week.”

Sabo stares at them both for a long moment, face blank, “I remember nothing about school and it’s breaks, but I assume your parents know you’re here and that you both know that Luffy won’t let you train if you aren’t keeping your grades up.”

“Aren’t you doing college courses?” Coby asks slowly.

“I could very well be,” Sabo agrees. “However, that is not important to me and Bunny Joe will make sure that I have my work done on time because at this point he controls everything in my life, including planning my dates, which is more than a little awkward sometimes.”

“If you say so. We’re gonna go see what’s next on our schedule, since we finished what we normally do and have time,” Coby says, pulling Helmeppo away. “Good luck with the paperwork.”

“Thanks.”

Helmeppo waits until they’ve rounded a corner, “Well, that’s no fun for Ace. He was really looking forward to being there as his students’ trainer.”

“Yeah and they’re really little. I hope he can get the person he wants to watch them for him. But I’m also glad that it’s not worse, so he’s still able to do his international competitions.”

“Which would take him out of the running for a lot of things. Come on, let’s go see if we can get more to do, before you post this online. Let Ace tell everyone and then we can post support,” Helmeppo says snatching Coby’s phone from his hands. “Come on.”

“Fine.”

* * *

“You’ve been watching that for the last twenty minutes,” Coby states, not bothering to turn and see what Helmeppo is doing. “I keep hearing Ace promising that it’s just a towel and quieting noises, when I’m suppose to be hearing relaxing music.”

“I’m in an argument,” Helmeppo says in annoyance. “With Nailing. Nailing says that it’s Padfoot, but that doesn’t look like Padfoot.”

Coby groans, rolling onto his side and opening Instagram. The video is new, and someone else is filming it, which is part of what made it so unusual, Ace always credited the person filming. The video is simple, Ace trying and failing to dry a puppy, who keeps trying to play tug with the towel, and the person filming making calming noises. Coby was fairly certain that was the boot of Ace’s car too, considering the bright orange bag.

“Too small. And you know that if Ace was going to take one of his grandparents’ dogs on the trail, he would have tagged it fandom dogs like he always does. Missy is more brown then black and is also bigger than this. Fluffy is, well, fluffier. This is a new dog,” Coby yawns, scrolling through the comments and marking several as inappropriate. “If I see one more word about hands-”

“I told Luffy that people were posting shit about sex on Ace’s things again,” Helmeppo interrupts him. “He says to mark it and he’s told Ace, who will take care of it later. Apparently he’s busy right now. That voice didn’t sound familiar did it?”

Coby shakes his head, “Nope. And we don’t know everyone they know, but I mean, it doesn’t sound like anyone that they normally hang out with,” Coby sighs. “Ballet Dude is on this already, he’s asking if this is a boyfriend because, quote, have you ever seen Ace laugh like that? Which, yes, I have.”

“We are Luffy’s,” Helmeppo dithers over the word, because they weren’t exactly students, not like Momo and Tama were Ace’s. “Under Luffy’s mentorship?”

“Mentorship works.”

“We’re under his mentorship, we obviously have more time around Ace than his fans and we’re not reliant on videos and events to get information about him,” he shrugs.

“I think that Ace at least has a friend with a new puppy,” Coby decides. “The puppy is new and I think we can both agree it doesn’t match any of the puppies that we know him to have seen before?”

Helmeppo nods, “This is absolutely a new puppy. Now if this is also a new person? That’s up for debate. But I will give your Ballet Dude something, it sure isn’t Sabo, Sabo’s been posting pictures all day and he’s out of town.”

“And Luffy’s been around too, which means that it’s not one of those bonding trips that they take. But I’m not sure that it’s one of Ace’s normal friends either. They all have just as much social media presence as he does.”

“We’d have to ask Ace.”

“I’m not asking Ace shit,” Coby states shivering. “Not after last time. Do you not remember the look on his face when we asked him about the rumors that he was dating Sabo? He looked like he was going to commit a murder.”

Helmeppo laughs, “I remember. That’s why we normally ask Luffy. Luffy at least thinks it’s funny. Or weird that people think that Ace is dating. Or dating again? I think there was mention of Ace dating previously but I think we were younger then.”

“Not important then, he hasn’t dated in several years, that’s all that matters.”

“He hasn’t. We just need to convince everyone else of that. Which we won’t. Because they’re terrifying fans or Nailing.”

“Nailing is something that leaves me afraid. This is horseback riding, we’re not suppose to get stalker fans, that’s for movie stars and models.”

Helmeppo sighs, “Well, he is an Olympic Gold Medalist, which is pretty rare. Not to mention the Monkey family has it’s own fortune and a line of hotels that it’s been cultivating for a while. Isn’t his family technically peerage?”

“I have no idea,” Coby answers rubbing his eyes. “I know that Luffy made mention that they bought Kensington years and years ago, but I can’t remember if he gave a specific date or if it was one of those comments that Luffy makes sometimes.”

“Anyway, Ace is rich, famous, and at least slightly visible to the public because he does have sponsors that use his face and his own family’s charity. He’s going to have creepy fans. And look,” Helmeppo turns his phone to show an old string of comments. “He’ll usually respond if you @ him or something.”

“Ace is great, but he needs to stop encouraging his more terrifying fans. I’m sure she’s a great person, when she’s not being obsessive, I think I’ve seen her comment nice things on Luffy’s stuff, but?”

“Having a crush on someone doesn’t entitle you to be anything to them?” Helmeppo finishes. “Which you would know.”

Coby throws one of the pillows closest to him at Helmeppo, “You can’t say anything.”

“I idolize Luffy and may have a lot of respect for him, but I don’t have a crush.”

“Which is just that, I’m not stupid. Or crazy. It’s like your weird crush on the guy that voiced Spirit in that horse movie,” Coby laughs when Helmeppo gasps. “What?”

“You betray me? Like this? I told you that in confidence!”

Coby raises an eyebrow, “We’re in my room, my parents are out. Who is going to overhear this conversation? I can scream it out the window, if you want to be betrayed. Tell the whole neighborhood that you like the way the dude sounds and have a crush.”

“Please don’t. It’s bad enough that I told you.”

“And I’m never going to forget it. We’ll be twenty years old and in an interview and I’ll just slide it into a conversation. Like yeah, Helmeppo had the biggest crush on the person who voiced Spirit.”

“And I’ll get to tell everyone that you had a crush on Luffy,” Helmeppo warns. “You really want to play that?”

“That’s six years from now? I’m not going to have a crush on Luffy six years from now. I’m pretty sure I’m always gonna think he’s a great rider, but that’s way different from a crush.”

Helmeppo hums, “You know, I’m pretty sure it’s weird when two fourteen year olds can handle having crushes on people better than adults can. I mean, you’ve already planned to be over Luffy by the time we’re fully grown and I’m crushing on a voice actor, like most people do.”

“I’m smart. Even if I have a crush on our trainer.”

“Don’t start moping, we’re suppose to be having a relaxing day. You’re not allowed to mope on me.”

“I want to mope,” Coby whines, grinning when Helmeppo frowns. “Sorry, I was joking and you know it.”

“Come on, we can go do something instead of this. I hear there’s new costumes at the horse place. We can go look, otherwise your mom will come home and make us tell her about our day and I don’t want to tell her we’ve been picking more internet fights.”

“Mom is always so disappointed,” Coby agrees, sighing as he gets up. “Alright, let’s go.”

* * *

“You should see this,” Helmeppo says suddenly, rolling off his bed and groaning as he hits the floor, where Coby has been hiding underneath a pile of blankets since they had gotten back from practice. “Come on, I know you’ve been avoiding Ace’s everything, but come on and look at this.”

“Not unless Nailing has deleted her account and left this plane of existence,” Coby answers, refusing to let Helmeppo tug the blanket away to make his visible. “Ace is probably going to tell Luffy and then my stupid crush is going to be-” he doesn’t know what but Luffy will _know_ and Coby wasn’t ever going to do anything.

Helmeppo sighs, “We all get crushes, Ace isn’t going to tease you about a crush on Luffy and I don’t think he’ll tell anyone. Come on, please? It’s not even a post by Ace. It’s about him.”

Coby sighs, because he knows Helmeppo, he’ll keep trying until he agrees, “Fine, show me.”

The picture isn’t on Ace’s account, but he had already known that, even if the handle hadn’t been so different.

**WildHorses**

Dunster Castle Hotel, Great Britain

 **WildHorses** Saw @AceMFRider and #Starthehorse showing off to #fandomdogs and some dude (maybe a #mysteriousboyfriend ??) @MFEDunsterFarm !

The picture itself is pretty innocuous, Ace was riding Stella, probably training? Coby wasn’t sure what Stella’s schedule was like, so he didn’t know if it was actual training. But it was the man, wearing what Coby was pretty sure was the jacket from the 2014-2015 Team GB uniform, that was unusual. The riding hat kept his face fairly well hidden, but he didn’t look like anyone that Coby knew and he knew a number of the people that Ace hung out with and riders that were already being thrown around as guesses.

“You think it’s a boyfriend,” Coby asks softly.

Helmeppo shrugs, “I’m not sure. I know that we’re going to be supportive and stop anyone who tries to say that Ace is only using it to get attention or as a beard.”

“Yeah. Give me my phone? I’m gonna block Nailing and start throwing people down before they can say shit about Ace,” Coby breathes out slowly. “Do you think that the notifications on Insta are for my post getting likes and not someone telling me that I’m a loser?”

“No one is going to call you a loser for a crush, you’re fourteen.”

Coby snorts, “Yeah, except for Nailing. Alright, I’m going in.”

Instagram is mostly notifications, but he does have two messages that he ignores, tracking down the picture and commenting on the way Stella looks before going into the comments on twitter to fight. Ballet Dude is already there, knee deep into the arguments, but hilariously making sure to point out that it couldn’t be Sabo there with Ace since Sabo had been posting and wasn’t at Dunster.

“Where is Sabo?” Coby asks curiously.

“He’s been posting pictures of a date with Koala,” Helmeppo answers instantly. “Ballet Dude might have some weird need for everything to be gay, but he does like facts to back up his claims. And there’s no way that dude is Sabo.”

Coby laughs, “You think?”

“Shoulders are too broad. Plus the girl that posted, she says he was scruffy.”

“Ballet Dude is happy that his tag is being used, isn’t he?”

“Oh yeah, he has been telling everyone that it’s a mysterious boyfriend since the puppy video last week and now people are finally starting to agree with him. Not that people aren’t still saying that it’s a friend or something,” Helmeppo shrugs. “I think it’s a boyfriend.”

Coby chokes, “You do?”

“I mean, if Ace was going to date someone in the circuit, we would have heard about it before now. Ace likes to talk about people, his friends, and he’s not exactly hiding this one. But he’s also not responding to @’s about this guy. Just about Stella and Dunster and the dogs.”

“You sound far too convinced about this,” Coby mutters, spotting Nailing and blocking her before he continued. There’s another account that is saying that Ace couldn’t be gay and Coby had an interview for that one. “I love when people are stupid.”

“What did they do now?” Helmeppo asks. “I’m in a three way war about Ace being too pure to have any romantic interests.”

“He’s not gay,” Coby answers already pulling up the link from the depths of his phone and slapping that on to his comment before posting. “Which no, he’s not. He’s bi. You think people would remember that.”

Helmeppo hums, “You have the link where Ace talks about his previous relationships in there? Because I’m about to need it.”

“You’ve got a text incoming, Ballet Dude linked it earlier,” Coby answers, his heart stopping when Ace comments on one of the ones that he had already been in the process of correcting. “Ace is here.”

“What’s he saying now?”

“That’s he’s bi and he would appreciate it if his fans would remember that. I’m going to avoid that and move further down before he sees me.”

“Ace isn’t going to say anything to you, you know that. Now, come on. We have so many comments-” Helmeppo pauses. “Ace wants you to check your messages when you’re feeling up to it.”

“That’s not worrying at all,” Coby hisses, but clicks over to the two messages that he has on his account.

The first is junk, which he’s used to deleting, but the second is from Ace and it’s almost worse seeing it then knowing it was there. He clicks on it before he can talk himself out of it.

“You okay,” Helmeppo asks after a long minute of silence. “I know you said you were going to look but?”

“Ace apologized for what Nailing did because it was wrong of her to do this. Not just because it’s a dick move, but also I’m a teenager and teens get crushes,” Coby snorts. “Ace says that he had a crush on one of the older riders at the MFEC when he was my age. But he deleted her comment as soon as he saw it and he won’t tell Luffy.”

“I told you it would be fine.”

“Shut up, Ace could have done anything. You never know with people.”

Helmeppo throws one of the stuffed horses on his bed at Coby, “Ace is a good person and he wouldn’t do that to you. He might not have much to do with you, but he’s not going to run around telling people that you have a monster crush on his cousin.”

“Yeah,” Coby types out a quick thanks before exiting and returning to the comments of the picture. “Come on, I bet I can make more people rage block me than you.”

“You’re on!”

* * *

“It’s early,” Coby whines when Helmeppo prods him in the ribs. “I wanna sleep!”

“Wake up, Ace is about to pull us into another fandom war,” Helmeppo hisses, refusing to stop prodding Coby until he sits up. “You have to see this.”

Coby groans when he catches the time on Helmeppo’s phone, he had only gotten three hours of sleep because there had been a persistent asshole who wouldn’t shut up about how Ace was playing gay to get points for something. Coby was pretty sure they had blocked him, which meant he had won the bet against Helmeppo this time.

“You have to keep quiet to hear everything,” Helmeppo mutters, playing the video.

There’s a person, hidden underneath the sheets as a puppy yips and barks, cursing softly in what isn’t English. Coby doesn’t know what it is, but it’s not English, but it doesn’t sound like he’s telling the puppy to stop, at least not seriously. Ace is laughing in the background. The person shifts, blonde hair spilling over the pillow as they grumble again. The video cuts when the sheet starts to move.

“God damn it, Ace,” Coby sighs, scrubbing his eyes tiredly. “We can safely rule out Sabo, right?”

“Sabo’s been posting until late last night, last one was him and Koala having a movie night about an hour before we finally collapsed.”

“Dressage.”

Helmeppo nods, “We have confirmation of Wanda and Carrot out together last night. We’ll still be fighting people because we both know you can drive from Dunster to London and back in a night. You might not like it, but you can do it.”

“Any of them know another language to grumble it in their sleep?” Coby yawns, already turning on his phone and checking the caption on the video. “What a nice way to wake up at @MFEDunsterFarm ! We just fought people for him.”

“Ballet Dude is already defending his own theory that it’s a mysterious boyfriend,” Helmeppo says sighing. “Which I’m going to agree with. If they were one of us, we would have seen a statement released. Or noticed people hanging out together more.”

“And there hasn’t been anyone. Alright, let’s do this.”

Ballet Dude is starting to become one of Coby’s favorites, for all that he’s a crazy fan like the rest of the crazy fans that Ace, Luffy, and Sabo, though they don’t help him as much, have found themselves with. Most of the Sabo/Ace shippers are easy to get rid of, since Ace is obviously at Dunster and Sabo had been at his apartment in Kensington only four hours ago. Some of the more rabid ones are claiming Ace is heartbroken over Sabo’s girlfriend and sleeping around with blondes to get over him. Which is worse than the rumor that went around that Hancock Boa snuck into Luffy’s hotel room and waited for him naked.

“Carrot and Ace is a ship?” Coby demands.

“You knew that before this,” Helmeppo says frowning at his phone and opening up his laptop. “I need like seven more hands to deal with this bullshit.”

Coby laughs, “I knew it was, but I was hoping it was more of a joke ship than Wanda and Ace. Wanda and Carrot speak any other languages? Never mind, they both do French. That sure as fuck wasn’t French.”

“No, it’s not,” Helmeppo, who actually speaks French, says easily. “I’m thinking something not Latin. Which is most of Eastern Europe and the Nordics.”

“Hah, fuck you in particular,” Coby hisses correcting someone who has far too many pictures of themselves and Ace photoshopped together. “Ugh, I’m so tired of these people-”

“Coby?”

“Ace’s PR dude jumped onto the thread that I was about to take on. Apparently death threats are not something they play with,” Coby moves on, best to let the adults deal with things like that. “You blocked Nailing?”

“Nope, I’m fighting her now,” Helmeppo says, smirking as he clicks on his laptop. “She’s saying it’s just a friend. That room is Ace’s private room at Dunster, there’s no way that he’s got someone sleeping in bed with him. Not unless it’s Luffy or someone he’s boning.”

Coby laughs, “Ace is Captain Holt!”

“If we can get him to do that with us, we would never need to post online again,” Helmeppo states grinning. “We should ask Ace the next time we see him if he’ll do it with us. I’ll be Diaz.”

“We can ask later, we have to fight rabid fans right now. At least Ballet Dude is on our side this time. I don’t know what we would have to do if he was going to say it was someone else.”

“Die.”

Coby yawns, “I just hope that Ace can keep his shit from doing this again for a bit. I know we don’t have to do this, but he’s Luffy’s cousin and we’re Luffy’s students. Which means that it’s upsetting to see him getting treated badly by fools. Like when Luffy and Hancock first became friends.”

“Mar’s here,” Helmeppo says closing his laptop, “She’s taken over Nailing for me. I think Rebecca’s taking on some racist trolls.”

“Oh thank god, it was bad enough fighting them all on our own last night.”

Helmeppo locks his phone and falls back into bed, “They’re taking over. Mar says she’s sorry that she missed out last night and Rebecca wants to play. We can go back to sleep.”

“Thank you, Rebecca,” Coby groans falling face first into his pillows. “I want sleep. So much sleep. We’ve been doing too much fighting, all sleep now,”

Helmeppo shakes his head, “Go to sleep, you dork. We have practice tomorrow and you can’t fall asleep on your horse because you were fighting trolls.”

“Luffy would laugh at it,” Coby mutters.

“Luffy also thinks it’s funny when people ask him if he’s slept with Zoro before, just because he thinks it’s funny doesn’t mean that it should be something you do.”

“Fine, good night. Again.”

“Night,” Helmeppo yawns.

* * *

“Coby,” Coby winces, gripping the strap of his bag tighter as Ace pushes himself off the wall. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to ambush you both, but I wasn’t sure when I would have enough free time to talk to you.”

“Talk to me?” Coby says slowly. “About?”

Ace smiles, “Nailing. I’m sorry about her, I’ve been treating her like any other fan, but she wasn’t acting like most of them. She had no right to talk to you like that or to try and,” he pauses, frowning as he wrinkles his nose. “Use your crush like that. You’re fourteen and it’s not fair for her to throw that out there. I apologize for letting her go so far.”

“You’re not-”

“I know I’m not her and I can’t control her, but she’s my fan. Which still makes her her own person, but if I don’t take at least some of blame for my fans, then I can’t exactly deal with anything.”

Coby shakes his head, “They’re fans, you don’t have to be to blame for anything they do. Thank, thank you for deleting it.”

“I wasn’t going to leave it up there for everyone to see,” Ace says honestly. “Actually, I also wanted to thank you. I heard that you were fighting my fans on Instagram again. Something about more people thinking that Sabo and I are,” he pulls a face. “You were right, by the way.”

“Right?” Helmeppo asks slowly.

“My boyfriend, he’s not a rider. Also, thanks for trying to convince them it’s not Carrot. Wanda can hold her own on these things, but Carrot is less confrontational online. She prefers to do her work in person.”

Coby grins, “She does. Are you headed out?”

Ace wears riding gear more than he wears anything else, Coby knows that because most riders do, but he looks almost like he’s wearing things that he can’t ride in. Even the shoes are normal boots instead of riding or paddock boots.

“I’m meeting my boyfriend, do you want to meet him?” Ace asks leading the way downstairs. “Luffy thinks he’s alright. Which is what Luffy always thinks until they do something to annoy him or endear him to them.”

“Can we?” Helmeppo asks bouncing at Coby’s side. “Really?”

Ace nods, “He’s not going to let you take pictures to post, he’s very private and I want to respect that. But he’s great,” Ace waves when he opens the door to the building. “There he is!”

The man that waves back is tall, Coby decides, not too much taller than Ace, but that was still decently tall and blonde, even if it’s some sort of undercut that looks more than a bit odd on him.

“Puppy,” Helmeppo hisses nodding towards the ground, where a puppy is bouncing, and barking, about his feet. “Like the video!”

“You didn’t say you were bringing people?” The man says slowly, raising an eyebrow.

Ace smiles, wide and bright, “These are Coby and Helmeppo, they’re Luffy’s students. Luffy’s students meet Marco Newgate, my boyfriend.”

“You’re enjoying saying that,” Marco says shaking his head and holding out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you both. This,” he nods to the dog. “Is Stefan. He’s less than a year old, but he thinks he’s a very big dog who can do everything.”

Helmeppo shakes his hand first, “Helmeppo. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Coby,” he says quickly, shaking Marco’s hand when Helmeppo steps back. “I’m Coby. Do you mind me asking, what do you do?”

Marco laughs, “Because I’m not a horse person?” he doesn’t wait for them to nod. “I’m a doctor. I work at the Imperial College Hospital. Which is not where we met. We met at yoga.”

“Can I pet your dog?” Helmeppo asks suddenly. Coby should have suspected this was going to happen, Helmeppo has wanted a dog for years, but hadn’t been allowed one. “Please?”

“Go right ahead, Stefan loves pets,” Stefan barks and Marco shakes his head. “He loves attention. I don’t know if you saw the video that Ace posted, but that was because he wanted to go on our morning run and I wouldn’t wake up.”

Ace doesn’t say anything hiding a grin behind his hand, which Coby is grateful for, at least they had a chance to seem normal to Marco.

“He seems like a sweet puppy,” Helmeppo says kneeling down to pet Stefan, laughing when Stefan licks his face. “Hello! Hello, yes, hi!” Stefan barks. “I see, you’re a very cute boy!”

Coby laughs, “Sorry, he likes dogs a lot.”

“It’s fine, maybe he’ll wear Stefan out just a bit before Ace and I got to dinner. Otherwise he’ll be bouncing everywhere when we make it back to my apartment to walk him afterwards,” Marco says easily. “Do you enjoy riding?”

“It’s nice, I’ve been doing international competitions more and while it’s nice, it’s a lot of work and little free time,” Coby agrees, checking his phone. “Helmeppo, we have to go or we’ll miss our bus.”

Helmeppo pouts, rolling to his feet, “Fine. It was nice to meet you, Marco.”

“Nice to meet you both as well,” Marco agrees. “I hope that I’ll see you again.”

Coby waits until they’ve lost sight of Ace and Marco, to laugh, “Did you know you have mud all over your knees? Your mom is going to be livid.”

“It was worth it,” Helmeppo states indignantly. “He seems nice, Marco.”

“You mean Stefan seems nice, you barely talked to Marco,” Coby corrects rolling his eyes. “I like him. He’s nice and I think that maybe Ace would benefit from a doctor around more.”

“They’re dating, not going to the hospital to have Ace checked out.”

Coby shrugs, “Yeah, but he’ll worry more if Ace is hurt. If I get hurt, you just think I need ice and sleep, but my doctor thinks I need x-rays and all.”

“If you say so. I do know that we have obviously been doing the right thing defending the mysterious boyfriend tag and we need to keep doing it. Marco doesn’t want to be publicly known, but that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t know that Ace is dating someone that isn’t part of the community.”

“We’re going to be fighting so much,” Coby sighs, thinking wistfully of sleep. “Come on, I’m hungry and want to get home for dinner.”

“Dinner.”

* * *

“Ace posted again,” Coby asks, making the character in his video game jump and falling just short of the other end of the chasm. “What now?”

“Marco chasing Stefan down with a blow dryer,” Helmeppo answers. “Apparently the puppy doesn’t like the blow dryer. Ugh, Nailing.”

“What is she doing now? I thought Ace was sick of her.”

Helmeppo sighs, “She’s talking about how great it is for him to spend time with his friend, Ballet Dude is already jumping on her because it’s not Ace’s friend, it’s his #mysteriousboyfriend. Which is true, they’re dating.”

“Ugh, we made it so long without fighting the internet,” Coby sighs, saving his game and turning the system off. This would take far longer than he wanted to leave it on for, switching to a cancel playing reruns of something he didn’t mind. “Phone please?”

“Watch the video first, it’s cute. Marco’s cursing and trying to convince Stefan that the dryer isn’t a bad thing.”

Coby hums, opening the app and watching the video with a grin. It was adorable, Stefan running away whenever Marco so much as tried to approach with the blow dryer, for all that you could only see his feet.

“Ace, are you going to keep filming or help me here?” was the last line before the video cut out and looped back around to muffled something. Coby wasn’t sure what language that was still, but he was pretty sure that it was just cursing.

“Is it bad yet?” Coby asks.

“Not quite? There’s a few new people that are asking about the puppy, but you know that means war soon enough,” Helmeppo answers as Coby scrolls down to the caption. “If you want to watch it again, I can handle it for the moment.”

“Please.”

The caption is simple, ‘The pup is giving us the run around even after a whole day of #trailride @MFEDunsterFarm . Apparently he doesn’t want to get dried or cleaned up.’

“Marco’s last name is Newgate, yeah?” Helmeppo asks curiously.

Coby nods, “Should be. Why, is he commenting on the picture too?”

“Not him, a girl. Same last name, says that pups never like the blow dryer and then @ an account, that has what I think is Stefan wearing a stethoscope as the icon, just like your pup,” Helmeppo looks up from his phone. “I think Stefan just got compared to himself.” He’s quiet for a moment longer. “It’s DrMNewgate, I’m pretty sure it’s him.”

“Maybe Marco hasn’t told his family that he’s dating yet?” Coby shrugs, tapping on a comment and flagging it before moving on to fight the one underneath that. “More people saying that Ace is straight, you need his interview link again?”

“I saved it. People are so stupid, we do this every time they insist on only straight people. Ace would literally date either,” Helmeppo shakes his head. “We should just burn all of fandom down and start from the beginning.”

Coby laughs, “It won’t work. Ignore the possible Marco relative for now. Unless they say something stupid, we’ll leave them alone. Marco doesn’t want to be publicly known.”

“I am smart enough to know that. I’ve joined into a dog war comment thread. I have assistance too! A vet is saying that there is no way that Stefan can be one of the fandom dogs and giving reasons why.”

“Are you even helping in that?”

“Providing photo evidence of the other dogs,” Helmeppo answers easily. “And behaviour notes since we’ve, you know, met them.”

Coby hums, “Sabo commented. He’s breaking all the Sabo/Ace fangirl hearts.” He pauses. “Again? You were @MFEDunsterFarm last weekend too! I want to #trailride , tell me when you’re planning to go next time!”

“Good, if I get asked one more time if I think Sabo and Ace are dating, I’m going to need a stronger ‘no’ gif. Jesus fuck Ace, at least give us time to take down all of the idiots before posting another picture!”

“Already, it’s been just over an hour,” Coby hisses, tapping open the new picture and cooing. “Stefan looks adorable, but I’m not sure I want to see Marco’s chest like this? I’m more conflicted about this than anything else in my life.”

Helmeppo hums, “He’s pretty ripped. I thought doctors only looked like that on television.”

“Ignore that and read the caption, Marco says that Stefan can’t go trail riding anymore because he was such a mess,” Coby says shaking his head and moving to comment on the picture, taking his time because it was best to avoid revealing how much he knew.

“Stefan would hate that,” Helmeppo agrees pouting. “Poor Stefan. Ugh, you’re so lucky to have blocked Nailing, I swear that she’s getting more and more cringy since Ace started showing off a man in his space and stopped responding to her.”

Coby hums, “Ace says that Marco’s vet wasn’t pleased by how Stefan was when he came in to be groomed. Which is why he’s decided against it, but it’s still sad,” he pauses. “Ace is ignoring Nailing?”

“Yeah, he was furious with Nailing, I told you that. I don’t think he’s spoken to her after that,” Helmeppo shrugs. “She’s spiraling. But it’s not important. That Newgate is back. She’s saying that she can’t imagine a pup being that bad and @ing that account that I think is Marco. The fact that Marco’s family member, who has to know Stefan well, can’t recognize him is sad.”

“Maybe she doesn’t see them often? I don’t see my Aunt Alvida much, but that doesn’t mean that she’s going to stop being my aunt.”

“You’re not wrong. Come on and help me fight people who are trying to insist that it’s Sabo. Sabo literally commented on the other picture, I’m not going to have that shit.”

Coby laughs, “I’m screenshotting the comment thread now, just give me a moment.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

Coby stumbles into the kitchen, avoiding his mom and dad to collapse against the counter by the coffee maker for a moment before pulling two cups out of the cupboard and pouring.

“Up late fighting on the net again,” his dad asks curiously. “If you and Helmeppo want to put the war of the pictures aside for a bit, your mom and I made breakfast.”

“Ace made the fandom spiral into a war because of his boyfriend’s puppy,” Coby yawns, regretting the moment that he gulps down his coffee, the taste far too bitter. “That needed cream and sugar. And his boyfriend.”

His mom hums, “Ace is dating?”

“Yeah, I don’t know when they met, but he’s real private and doesn’t feel comfortable being shown fully on Ace’s Instagram. Ace hasn’t even admitted this is his boyfriend yet online. But he was really nice when Helmeppo and I met him.”

“That doesn’t answer my other question,” his dad states flipping a pancake. “Are you two coming to breakfast or should I leave your plates in the oven while you keep fighting? I know you two are having fun, but we have a rule-”

“Breakfast has to be eaten by noon if I want to fight fandom all day,” Coby recites rolling his eyes and pouring himself another cup of coffee, taking the time to doctor this one. “I’ll see if Ace has broken the internet in the short time that it took me to get coffee and let you know?”

His dad laughs, “If you aren’t back in twenty minutes, your food is in the oven. Your mom will probably turn off the internet if you don’t come out to eat before 11:30.”

“Thanks,” Coby calls over his shoulder, carrying both cups back to his room and using his elbow to flick on his light. “‘Meppo, wake up, there’s coffee.”

Helmeppo groans, shifting to hide from the light, “Fuck coffee.”

“You love coffee.”

“Don’ wanna wake up,” Helmeppo hisses, dragging his blanket over his face. “Was fight,” he yawns. “Fighting too many fools, just sleep.”

Coby hums, setting the mug down, just outside Helmeppo’s reach, “Fools aren’t going to leave because you need sleep,” he scrolls through his feed. “Ace posted a new picture while we were sleeping.”

Helmeppo whines, “You do this on purpose,” he moves the blanket enough to glare at the coffee, too far away for him to reach. “What,” he yawns hard enough to shiver. “What is it?”

“Stefan in his harness. Looks like his tail is wagging, there’s a bit of a blur, so that’s mostly me guessing,” Coby answers, sipping his coffee. “Marco changed his mind because they were getting ready to go trail riding and Stefan came up to him holding the harness and whining until he was allowed to come too.” He skims the comments. “No fighting yet. Mostly just cute comments about the pup being happy and shit.”

“Good,” Helmeppo has gotten a straw, Coby doesn’t know where this straw came from, but there is a straw, using it to drink his coffee far too quickly. “We can leave it be for now then. That’s always nice.”

“Until someone tries to claim that it’s one of the fandom dogs,” Coby agrees easily. “You want breakfast, mom and dad made pancakes.”

Helmeppo groans, “I want food, but I don’t want to get up.”

“No meals in the bedroom,” Coby reminds him, standing up and cracking his back with a sigh. “Get up and we’ll eat. We might even get to play video games instead of fighting with people today. Unless Luffy’s posted another picture of those horribly colored socks and we have to defend him. Because we might have to give up on him about that.”

“They’re gross. They’re the worst color in the world and I stand by how disgusting they are. Even if we’re defending our trainer and colleague from the masses with lies.”

‘If you want to tell Luffy that his socks are ugly, do it. Otherwise, you can’t complain. Now get up, I want pancakes and I can’t eat if you’re going to be passed out in my bedroom.”

Helmeppo sighs, shifting to his feet, “There better be more coffee.”

“Do we ever turn off the coffee maker in this house?”

* * *

Coby groans when Helmeppo drops into the seat across from him at lunch, “Don’t we see each other enough? I thought we agreed that we were gonna hang out less this week because I almost punched you in the face last time you spent the night?”

“I know,” Helmeppo waves him off, holding up his phone. “But Ace released a statement about his partner. The terms are gender neutral, which I was expecting, but he is firm about his partner not being a part of the equestrian community and that they’re a private person. He’s also stated that he has informed any news sites that have requested interviews that he’ll only answer a few key questions about his partner.”

“I missed that,” Coby admits, pulling out his own phone and finding the press release. “Ace worded this very well. Not much hint to his partner’s identity but it does show that Ace’s dating someone else, someone that would match Ballet Dude’s hashtag more than any other fan theory.”

Helmeppo nods, “Luffy and Sabo have both released their own statements of support, even if Luffy’s sounds less enthused about Ace’s partner.”

“He must not have won Luffy over yet,” Coby mutters moving on to the two other statements. “Luffy is very supportive of Ace, even if he’s careful about how he worded his support of Marco. Nami must have had a field day getting this correct.”

“Probably spent hours on it, with help from Luffy’s PR team. I mean, look at this. This won’t get much show time however.”

Coby laughs, “Oh, I know. This was timed perfectly, Ace has his first competition of the World Cup Finals tomorrow. This is going to be seen, but it won’t get the visibility that it might have normally because there’s so much going on.”

“Even Sabo’s statement will be buried and he’s basically singing praises. I don’t think he was this excited for Ace’s other relationships. Usually he’s supportive but not this supportive.”

“It sounds like it, but Marco’s a doctor? I think he is. That’s gotta make Sabo like him more. What better way to make Ace take care of himself then to set his doctor boyfriend on him?”

Helmeppo yawns, “Yeah. Now I’m going to leave because we’re on a friendship break and I’m not here to end up in a fight. See you Saturday?”

“Saturday,” Coby agrees, biting into his lunch savagely. A week long break from each other was the only reason that they hadn’t killed each other before this and it would continue to protect them now. Even if it was weird not having his best friend eat lunch with him.

* * *

Instagram is busy, Coby decides, sprawling over his bed and scrolling through the feed. There’s plenty of pictures from the World Cup, different ones of Ace and Luffy, not to mention their friends and the rest of the staff. Banshee had posted six pictures of Wisteria trying to steal something green that was just too far from her stall, and destined for Wisteria’s stomach already.

Nothing new or exciting enough to click on, since there was going to be stupid comments but none at the level of when Ace posted pictures with Marco and Stefan or when Luffy posted pictures of new, awkwardly placed bruises, which came from falling, no matter what was insinuated.

He refreshes it and laughs, spotting the newest video on his feed.

It’s Luffy leading Rain out of the stables and tripping, saved by Rain’s head moving to press against Luffy’s chest, thus keeping him upright as Ace laughs in the background.

**AceMFRider**

Omaha, NE, USA

**AceMFRider** @LuffyMFRider shows how graceful he still is on two feet. #LuffysHelpers are probably the only reason that he doesn’t spend more time in the med tent. Thanks #RainySeason for helping #ClumsyLuffy again. #FEIWorldCup #feiworldcupfinals2017 @omahaequestrian @fei_global

Which was likely, Coby decides laughing still and taking care to leave a comment about how he hoped that they both did well. Wishing them more luck.

He drops his phone and sighs, tired. There was still practice this weekend, Luffy might not be there, too busy competing in Omaha, but that didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be someone there to make sure that Coby and Helmeppo both did what they were suppose to and were training properly.

“You lazing,” his dad asks peeking into the room. “I haven’t seen Helmeppo this week?”

“Break week, he’ll be over on Saturday after practice,” Coby answers tiredly. “I thought you would like having less people around.”

“I have adopted Helmeppo as my second son. He is over at my house too much to be anything else,” his dad answers. “Want to play a game with me? That smash thing is working and you can try and beat me.”

Coby laughs, “I always beat you.”

“That hurts, son. I’ll have you know I’m a champion at smash. Unless you’re too chicken to play?”

“Alright, I’m moving,” Coby groans as he stands. “This is because mom won’t play with you, isn’t it?”

“She never plays smash.”

“Come on then, old man. Let’s see how badly you’re going to lose.”


End file.
